Been doing that for years.
Worst case I can swap in a cloned disk and be up and running in 15 mins or less.
Update a few few things since the last clone and good to go.
Now I can go shopping for a new disk.
Cloning the best Insurance against a Hard Drive Disaster! Backing up data to a USB drive is a good practice but it doesn't protect you if your hard drive goes-up - cloning does. Over the years I have experienced several hard drive failures and clones have save the day for me because I was able to be up and running again in the shortest possible time without having to reinstall the OS and apps and and registering them again..
Windows 7 users – Cloning your hard drive is the best way to protect and keep using Windows 7 and Windows 7 applications. What’s needed? Two hard drives identical to the hard drive in your computer labeled Clone 1 and Clone 2, a USB Hard Drive Adapter Kit, and Acronis True Image. Backing up your data on a USB drive is good but that does not protect the Operating System. Should your hard drive goes-up it’s a disaster because Windows 7 support will be going away in the not too distant future. You can spare yourself the grief and work of having to start from scratch if disaster strikes because with a good clone drive you are up and running in a flash. Cloning should be done monthly or as often as you feel necessary. Using two clone drives protects against problems that could arise during cloning and insures that you will always have at least one good clone. If you are e a die-hard Windows 7 user cloning could be a life-saver. It does involve some expense and does require a little time it is worth it.

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